Forestdale Newsletter - 9/6/26

Mother nature was kind enough to hold off the rain on our first day back to school.  Students laden with school supplies and new backpacks eagerly hopped off buses and out of cars to be greeted by familiar staff, teachers, police officers, Dr. Joe (Superintendent) Dr. Quinn (Assistant Superintendent), dogs (Lennon and Stella) and friends.  These first two days were really about getting to know the building spaces and classroom routines.  When I walked through the classrooms, I saw teachers and students engaged in getting to know you games and sharing stories about their summers.  

Day two weather was not as kind to us at arrival time, but students and staff forged ahead and had a fantastic second day of school.  We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather at dismissal time so students and staff could enjoy their walk around the bus loop while looking for bus numbers.  Please click on the link below to look at photos from our first day of school.  

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

-Kara Schofield, Assistant Principal

Our Kindergarten students start school on Tuesday, September 8th. For the entire week, all Kindergarten students (bus riders and parent drop off) will meet at the flagpole and our staff will escort them to their classes.  Please be sure that your child has their badge visible for the assisting adults to see.  

If you cannot locate your child's badge (inside the folder received during family visit day), you can create your own. Please include  the student's name, teacher's name, bus number, and either a red or yellow dot if you know which side of the building their class is on.  These tags are an easy visual to help the adults escort the students to their correct spaces.  

To celebrate the Patriot's season opener against the Seattle Seahawks, we are inviting all students and staff to wear Patriot's colors or gear on Wednesday, September 9th. Go PATS!

Red/Yellow placards:

All families received a placard for arrival and dismissal procedures.  If you receive a yellow placard your drop off location will be to the right of our building and if you receive a red placard your child will be dropped on the left side of the building.  *If you have children in more than one grade level your placard color will be based on the youngest child’s classroom location.

Families with yellow placards that arrive before 8:45 am to drop their child should proceed to the old basketball/tennis court area, to the right of the parking lot, to wait in the Early Drop-Off Waiting Area.  Families arriving early on the “red” placard side will pull up to the gym entrance walkway to wait until 8:45 am. Please try to arrange your child’s car seat on the passenger's side of your car.  Please don’t get out of your car.  We will have staff to assist your child out of the car  as the goal is to keep traffic flowing.

We are kindly asking families who are waiting for parent pick up to wait outside the newly installed gate outside the PreK playground.  School is in session until 3:20 and playground use is not permitted to visitors until after dismissal.  Once dismissal begins, the playground is available for use.

At a few minutes after 3:20, a staff member will allow entry for RED PLACARD families to come in for QR code scanning and id-ing at sign out.  Only red placard students are in the gym at this time. Please note this Red placard entry first allows for those families to leave with their students and allow more parking spaces in the visitor parking lot.  Students may use the playground at this time.

We will allow entry for YELLOW PLACARD families at 3:30.  This is when the students from the yellow placard side are dismissed to the gym.  

Please have your QR code ready to be scanned.  These were sent to you via Parent Square through a secure document.  Here is a link on how to access your code: How to view a secure document. For ease in pick up procedure, you can save a screen shot of this QR code to show at entry.  

Once inside the gym, you will need your license or ID to sign out and pick up your student. This is truly to ensure the safety of your children and confirm that they are going home with the authorized person on the Pick Up Patrol list.  

If you have any questions or concerns about Parent Pick Up, please reach out to kschofield@sandwich.k12.ma.us. 

Bus Routes can be found here:  FD Bus Routes 2026-2027 If you feel a route change is needed, please email your request to transportation@sandwich.k12.ma.us. Please include your child’s name, grade level, your home address, email or phone number and the nature of your request. Lucini Bus will research the request and the school will contact you with the decision.